At the end of a dark prairie road, nearly forgotten in the Kansas countryside, is the Finch House. For years it has remained empty, overgrown, and abandoned. Soon the door will be opened for the first time in decades. But something is waiting, lurking in the shadows, anxious to meet its new guests…
When best-selling horror author Sam McGarver is invited to spend Halloween night in one of the country’s most infamous haunted houses, he reluctantly agrees. At least he won’t be alone; joining him are three other masters of the macabre, writers who have helped shape modern horror. But what begins as a simple publicity stunt will become a fight for survival. The entity they have awakened will follow them, torment them, threatening to make them a part of the bloody legacy of Kill Creek.
Kill Creek: Horror Novels Review Blog
What came to mind while reading this book is the 1959 horror film, The House on Haunted Hill, and its 1999 remake of the same name. In the film, an eccentric millionaire invites guests to his home, promising to give them a substantial amount of money if they can spend just one night in this purported haunted house. I can’t help but wonder if the film played a role in providing author Scott Thomas, some inspiration with his debut novel, Kill Creek. This is not to say that the book is a carbon copy of the films. On the contrary, it is quite the opposite.
Famed horror authors are invited to the Finch House, a reportedly haunted mansion with a bleak history, for a publicity stunt broadcast in a live stream on Halloween night. Kill Creek gets off to a somewhat quick start in that our characters are introduced, their personalities established, and we get an insight as to what makes each of them a master of the macabre. It is with the introduction of the Finch House, and to one another, that we are given information as to what makes each author unique amongst their cohorts in the horror fiction world. Here, the seed is planted for what’s to come.
This introduction threw me for a loop as I did not expect them to enter the house until much later in the book. At this point, I anticipated a repeat of what I suffered while reading The Supernaturals. Thankfully, this was not the case. What ensues after their visit to the Finch House is an overbearing obsession with writing about the house, in which each author is convinced the final product will be a massive hit and bestseller. Of course, it is not without its repercussions. This is when the book starts to take off as we delve further into each character, garnering more insight as to what they are about as people, what they have been through in the past, and the reasons why the invitation to the Finch House was accepted and what they are now going through after their night at the Finch House. Of course, we still follow our main protagonist, Sam McGarver, but Thomas fleshes out the other characters to develop our likes, dislikes, and indifferences we feel for them. In other words, the novel really starts to shine at this point.
Kill Creek is a fun, sometimes scary, and always enjoyable read. I would say that the first half of the book contains the majority of the creepy parts before it starts to delve into the descent of the psychosis of the authors culminating in a thrilling and maybe semi-extraneous, conclusion. I can’t say that there was ever a point where I was bored or lost interest as Kill Creek delivered on most, if not all, aspects that make for an enjoyable read. Turn off the light, get cozy by the fire, and be ready to be immersed in Kill Creek.